Jonah Hex [DVD] [2010]

Jonah Hex (played by Josh Brolin - No Country For Old Men) is another graphic novel to silverscreen conversion about our heavily-scarred & super-natural bounty hunter of the same name. Hex betrays his confederate General Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich - Afterwards) killing Turnbull's son as an unintended consequence. As vengeance, Turnbull kills Jonah Hex's family forcing him to watch - tied to a post. When Crow Indians find him days later, near-death and with a brand on his face, their shaman work their magic but fail to "bring him back all the way". As a result our hero Hex has the uncanny ability to talk to the recently deceased as he has a foot on either side, one in life, one in death - it also gives him the useful knack of being able to dodge imminent death.

Hex swears revenge on Quentin Turnbull and is robbed of his vengeance when Turnbull appears to have died in a hotel fire. When several armouries of the fledgling United States are raided for key components of a weapon the world has never seen the likes of - Hex is roped into service to stop an enemy he thought had been laid to rest.

It may have been a box-office bomb - no argument there - but this film has been pretty much universally panned by critics saying it's incoherent, the plot is flimsy and that the acting is poor - but I would like to disagree. I'm not a diehard Jonah Hex fan or anything - I hadn't actually seen much of the character before watching the film - but I really liked the experience.

Megan Fox's (Transformers) acting IS dire but in fairness I fail to see how that could sink the whole film as she only has about 10 lines and is onscreen for around 5 minutes in total. With that said, Brolin plays a fantastically stoic & gritty Jonah Hex, a man who no longer cares whether he lives or dies - he suits the character perfectly. Malkovich plays the deranged madman with poise and grace (sipping sugar-strained lemonade, whilst watching - with opera glasses - the death of hundreds of innocents by his new weapon) and the supporting cast are more than adequate.

What enamoured me to this film was how good the Western feeling was to the whole experience, the opening scene could have been out of anyone of the decent cowboy-tales of yesteryear. Pair this with a great take on some steampunk-styled weaponry - horse-mounted Gatling cannons and dynamite-launching handheld crossbows for example - all courtesy of The Smith (Lance Reddick - Lost) and you have a millieu worthy of the best. The film is exceptionally well directed, with some really great shots of bandits on horseback chasing a train across cornfields for example (well done Jimmy Hayward) and really captured my attention for the duration - which admittedly is a little light, clocking in at 81 minutes (including credits!!). The score is good as well, with some of the dream sequences having some extremely surreal pink-floydesque tracks, juxtaposed with the heavier rock during the action scenes.

The one disc version comes with a little extra content, a few deleted scenes and an animated short which is very good even as a stand-alone. However I have no idea what was worthy enough to fill an entire other disc but there is also a 2-disc version should you want the works.

In conclusion, this isn't the best graphic novel adaptation out there by any means but it's nowhere near as bad as people have made out, it's definitely worth a watch!!

The western has had many variants during it's long history, including the supernatural western, of which this is one. I recall one many years ago involving Jesse James and Frankenstein. Not a good recollection! This time they have brought DC comics anti hero Jonah Hex, created by John Albano, to the screen. In this film Hex is played by a disfigured Josh Brolin, and is pitted against megalomaniac John Malkovich. Like any self respecting megalomaniac he has his little ambitions that include blowing up Washington and president Grant. Next the world! Think Lex Luther! With some distinctly nuclear age looking weapons of mass destruction at his disposal, this admirable goal looks a distinct possibility. The two protagonists have some history between them, so the scene is set for a few fireworks. As the advertising screams "revenge gets ugly". It most certainly does!

After the first fairly traditional western opening, you begin to wonder if Hex is in the Sergio Leone anti-hero mould. This is very soon dispelled when you see the arsenal of weapons he has at his disposal, which reminded me much of the gadgetary on display in Will Smith's dire "Wild Wild West". He also has that handy knack of being able to Lazarus like, bring the dead back to life, which comes in useful. Even Clint Eastwood couldn't do that. Most useful of all is that he can bring himself back to life with the help of some Indians, who must have had very strong medicine indeed. This helps a lot when there are bucket loads of bullets flying in your direction, and there is a mad Irishman who looks like Ewan McGregor on steroids after your blood. His girlfriend played by Megan Fox is also quite a lass, who despite working in the world's oldest profession, manages to remain remarkably untouched by the demands of this work. She also happens to make Lara Croft look like a shrinking violet, which makes her a very handy ally to our hero.

As you may have guessed, this is not a film to take too seriously. John Malkovich certainly doesn't. He simply has fun playing a panto villain, and then as any good actor would do, runs off to the bank with a big fat cheque. Most of the budget for this film seems to have literally gone up in smoke with the fest of explosions. The film has a sensibly short running time, which is probably because the bill for the explosives arrived. Any longer might have stretched the patience. The supernatural western is certainly not my cup of tea, and If you are after a cinematic classic on a par with "Citizen Kane", then don't bother. It is best watched with a nice can of suitable liquid refreshment, then it might not seem such a bad film. If all you are after is some simple "no brainer" entertainment, then it passes the time pleasantly enough.

If your a fan of the comics or not it dont matter, this is a great fun film, the story is your basic revenge theme with Hex helping the military capture the villain who is building a super weapon (and killed Hex family) along with the help of an old flame the beautiful Megan Fox!! Its fun filled with shootouts and explosions, the only problem is that it has a short running time of 1hr 20mins. The film has some great ideas and is probably the most fun comic book style western in a while.